Who Is Your Master?

READ: John 8:31-39

America is the land of the free. We believe what we want; we say what we want; we do what we want. We are all independent, bound to no master! Or so we think.

2 Peter 2:19 says that all people are slaves to whatever has mastered them. The truth is easy to see in the life of a drug addict or a youth madly in love. Everything must be given to obtain that which has captured the fascination of the mind and the passion of the heart. We just can’t control ourselves. We have to have it.

So what is your it? What has mastered you?

Wealth? Personal accomplishment? Love of spouse, child, or parent? Your reputation for holiness built upon the sins you hide? Escapism through alcohol, through television, through work that doesn’t even need to be done?

Are you a slave unto sin?

We all used to be. “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures.” (Titus 3:3) 

Some of us still are. “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” (Romans 7:14-15)

And some of us aren’t anymore. “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” (Romans 6:18)

Feel like you’re caught in between? Remember the words Jesus spoke in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”

“Therefore, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

Dead or Alive: Who Can Tell?

READ: Romans 8:5-8

My grandfather is dead. Physically dead. Embalmed, buried, resting under a tombstone. If I dug him up, heaved him over my shoulder, and the two of us came to visit you, would you have a hard time telling who’s alive and who’s dead?

If you can see, smell, touch, or hear, then no. There’s a big difference between alive and dead!

Ephesians 2 says that we were dead in our sins, gratifying the cravings of our flesh, when God made us alive with Christ. Spiritually dead. Spiritually alive. Shouldn’t there be a big difference?

Yet how often we hear, “You’re a Christian? I’ve known you for years. I didn’t know you were a Christian!” “Yep, go to church every Sunday. Don’t feel the need to broadcast it, though. It’s more of a personal thing for me.”

We are physically alive. We don’t need to broadcast it. It’s not a personal thing. We’re alive. You see us and you know.

We who have been saved by God’s grace are spiritually alive in Christ. When people see us, they should know.

Yet often they don’t. Why is that? Because we still live much of our lives gratifying the cravings of our flesh, following our selfish desires and caring nothing for the desires of God. Sure, we believe in Christ and want salvation and blessings, but our minds are set on ourselves, not on what the Spirit desires. We don’t look different because we aren’t different. If the mind governed by the flesh is death, we’re just dead people being propped up by our church friends and made to look alive.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)

Follow that will—the will of God, the desires of the Spirit—and you will appear very alive indeed!

What you see is what you get...and that is a good thing

Image Maintenance

We all have an image to uphold, a facade we must keep in place lest someone else see our pain. We don't want anyone to have a clue that all is not perfect in our world. We don’t want to give away the fact that our faces are covered by more than make-up. No, there is a major cover-up going on, a mask firmly in place.

“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.” (Psalm 51:3 NIV)

I was reminded of a poem by Ann Weems in her book, Reaching for Rainbows. This poem is titled, “You, sitting in the pew next to me.” It is about how we seldom know the people we sit with in church each and every Sunday. We are strangers who smile and shake each others hands, but we don't allow more than that.

Ms. Weems’ writings point out how valuable it is to be real with each other, to allow a few people into our personal space. To give permission to a select few to know the real you. It is time we allow our ‘cracks’ to show, because those cracks will let the light shine through.

I read this book during a time in my life when no one was allowed access to my heart, to my hurt. It took years and a number of books like this, the Bible, and God’s people, to show me how to be real, to be open and willing to share my life. How about you?  Set yourself free - remove the mask and see if don't see the world different when you know you are not alone. 

This was such a sweet memory for me that I went online and found a copy of this precious book and just ordered it. There is much more to this story, but perhaps I will save it for another devotion on the topic.

Psalm 51:3-5

Just Like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood

We are conditioned to be self-absorbed; to focus our life-lens on self. The word on the street, the general consensus is, it is all about me. Television commercials reinforce our importance every time their product is introduced. The advertisements shout, "you deserve a break today." We come to believe that we cannot exist without a ...(fill in the blank).

This is nothing new, but as we become more and more sophisticated, so does the concept of our own needs while they blossom into huge egos. Lost are the days of taking care of one another; of looking out for each other at the expense of ourselves. We easily forget just how much we need one another, how much we need the companionship and fellowship of others.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)

I am happy to share that my neighborhood is like one from the days of Father Knows Best, or Leave it to Beaver.  If you were raised in the 50's you understand what I mean. Those were the days when many lived in a neighborhood where everyone knew each other.  As I get older and dare I say, wiser, this is important to me, an attraction even. My neighbors go through life caring for each other; being attentive to a possible need.

We are designed to be in community. That is why God created Adam and  Eve. We are created to be in communion with God, and also with one another. This will play out in peaceful co-existence when we genuinely live with love for each other in our hearts.

1 Corinthians 1:7,18-23